Nightwing of Metropolis: Origins
by nightwingrh
Summary: What if Haly's Circus was in Metropolis when Dick Grayson's parents were killed.
1. Prologue

Author's Notes:  
  
Ok, First off this is going to be a long fic. So those of you who are not interested in such fics, you have been forewarned. I cannot promise regular updates but I will do my best. This fic is born from a plot bunny foisted upon me by Sarah (SKH). Therefore the working title has been Sarah's Fault. I would like to thank all those who have given me advice and encouragement through the planning and writing of this fic: Sarah and Char (the best Betas) and also to Robin, Q, Patty (title helper), Rach, 'rith and Greeno.   
  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Just ask my wife. All these characters belong to DC Comics. I am just playing with them.  
  
  
Summary: "What would have happened if Haly's Circus had been in Metropolis when Dick Grayson's parents were killed?"  
  
  
Rating: PG-13 for peril and violence  
  
  
Nightwing of Metropolis: Origins  
  
  
Prologue:  
  
10 Years Ago....  
  
  
Clark Kent sat in the back seat of a yellow taxi. He was so excited to get this assignment from Perry. A human-interest story like this was a nice break from the investigative reporting that he had been doing for the Daily Planet since he started there about a year before. Writing about the lives of itinerant circus performers for the Sunday magazine section, also gave him an excuse to go see the circus. It had been a long time since he had been to one, and as his luck had it, Haly's Circus was in town at the Metropolis Fair Grounds.   
  
  
He remembered Ma taking him to see that circus once back when he was about 12 years old, and he was hoping that the young aerialists couple that awed him then was still with the troupe. Their highflying stunts were just about the only thing he could talk about when told Pa about the circus. He remembered wondering what it must have felt like to fly through the air like that. If he had only known that a few years later he would actually soar to heights unimagined by the trapeze artists. Clark adjusted the glasses he wore and smiled to himself.  
  
  
The cabbie let him off at the entrance to the fair grounds, about three quarters of a mile from the Big Top. The performances had already begun, and as he started the walk to the big top, he took a deep breath and consumed the smells of the carnival. Cotton Candy, popcorn, hay, trampled grass, the animals. Hundreds of memories were triggered by these scents--memories of annual trips to the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson with Ma and Pa. He heard all the sounds that brought him back to his youth: laughter, the sideshow barker, the calliope, screams of delight, screams of terror.   
  
  
WHAT!   
  
  
The tall bespectacled young reporter looked around quickly as only he could and saw a scene of chaos through the canvas of the big top. A man and a woman were falling from the trapeze. Clark Kent ran faster and faster until he was a blur and his feet were barely touching the ground, trying desperately to get to the falling performers, and then he stopped suddenly.   
  
  
He looked down in front of him and saw a brightly clad, dark haired boy of no more than eight years. The boy dropped to his knees and screamed. In front of the boy, was the similarly clad couple, bodies broken in the fall. He was too late. 


	2. Chapter 1

AN: See Prologue. Thanks to Char for a quick beta on this chapter.  
  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Just ask my wife. All these characters belong to DC Comics. I am just playing with them.  
  
  
Summary: "What would have happened if Haly's Circus had been in Metropolis when Dick Grayson's parents were killed?"  
  
  
Rating: PG-13 for peril and violence  
  
  
  
Nightwing of Metropolis: Origins  
  
  
Chapter 1  
  
  
He stood on the top of the Daily Planet Building, looking out over his adopted city. The adrenaline running through his body was making his heart pump fast and hard. He knew this feeling well. He felt it whenever he was going to perform a new move as a child acrobat. That boy, however, was long gone and a young man stood in his place. The brightly colored costume that he wore as a member of Haly's Circus was very different from the dark, tight fitting suit he was now wearing.   
  
  
He remembers his last night in that costume and emotions of sadness start to fill his mind: the falling, the screaming, the emptiness, followed by the strong but gentle hand on his shoulder. The large stranger lifted him into his arms, and he held onto the man unable to even think and then the tears began. He doesn't remember how long he cried there, but when he looked he saw that the man's jacket was soaked with his tears and everyone had left the big top. He placed his head back on the stranger's shoulder and sleep took him.  
  
  
He learned later that the man who would be his brother stayed with him that night. He would never be able to repay Clark for all that he had given to and done for him, but he hoped that tonight he could start to honor the man who took in an orphan carnie kid and made him feel like family. Tonight he would start a new legend. He would follow his brother's footsteps to protect the innocent and bring the guilty to justice. Tonight Nightwing would be born.  
  
  
  
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The young man's name was Richard John Grayson, but most people called him Dick. After he his parents were killed, a man named Clark Kent, who was there when his parents died, filed to take custody of him and moved him to live with his parents on their farm in Kansas. Smallville was very good to Dick. He was very popular in school and his tremendous intelligence made him a hit with his teachers. But the single most important experience he had in the town occurred on his first night there:  
  
  
Dick had lain on the bed in his new room. It was nothing like the traveling trailer that he had lived in for the first eight years of his life. It had none of his things, yet there was a sense of warmth and family that he felt in this house. He had just started to doze when he heard muffled voices coming from the front porch and leaned closer to the window to hear.   
  
  
"Clark, He seems like such a sweet boy, and we would love to have him, but are you sure that you don't want to tell him?" He recognized that voice as Clark's mother Martha Kent, the woman who would raise him and whom he would soon be calling "Ma".  
  
  
"Ma, I don't know. I just don't know what to do. I knew that I had to get custody of him. I couldn't just let him be placed in foster care. I was there. I felt responsible..."  
  
  
Then Dick heard Clark's father Jonathon speak, "Son, like your Ma said, we are happy to have him, but are you sure it's a good idea to do this based on guilt."  
  
  
Dick started to feel uneasy. He was happy to be out of the JDC-Clark threatening to write an expose had helped to get him out-and Clark and his folks seemed like really nice people, but he did not want to be anybody's burden. He climbed out through the window to the roof above the porch, so he could better hear what they were saying.  
  
  
Then he heard Clark say, "No Pa, I don't think that would be fair to Dick. That is not why I took custody. He is a great kid. I already think of him as a brother, but I just don't know if I should tell him."  
  
  
With that Dick could not contain his curiosity anymore. He did a double flip off the roof and landed flawlessly in front of the Kents. "Tell me what?"  
  
  
The trio standing before him looked stunned-half because he was still awake and half because of the feat of agility that he had just performed. Clark was the first to speak. "Dick? I thought you were sleeping."  
  
  
"Yeah, well I couldn't sleep and I'm sorry I was eavesdropping like I was, but I did hear you talking, and Clark you shouldn't feel guilty. It wasn't your fault those bad guys cut my Mom and Dad's trap."  
  
  
"I know Dick, but there is something you don't know. And I was hesitant to burden you with such a secret, but if we are going to be a family, I really shouldn't keep it from you."  
  
  
"What is it Clark? You're scaring me."  
  
  
"I'm sorry Dick. Don't be. However, it would be better to show you than tell you." With that the young man named Clark Kent picked up the boy in front of him and held him close to his chest raised his right arm and lifted into the night sky.  
  
  
"Holy Cow!! Clark you're flying."  
  
  
"Yes Dick. You see; I am Superman. That is why I was feeling guilty. I feel like if I could have gone faster, maybe I could have saved your parents."  
  
  
The man holding the boy stopped in the air hovering at 200 feet above ground. Dick's face looked sad, and Clark regretted what he had done, but when the boy spoke...  
  
  
"Clark, I can't believe you are Superman. I can't believe we are really flying now. I want you to know that I am really happy that you and your folks took me in. It's not your fault that my parents died. You are only one guy. You can't keep everyone alive forever. It's not your fault, and I will never believe that you did anything less than you could. I do have a favor to ask, though"  
  
  
Clark's soul felt part of the heaviness that had weighed it down lift. Over the past two weeks since the Circus, he had felt so useless and responsible. While the boy's words did not allow Clark to absolve himself completely, he felt better that Dick did not hold him responsible as well. So with a large grin he answered, "Anything you want Kiddo."  
  
  
The boys blue eyes reflected in the moonlight and seemed to get larger with his smile. "Can you hold me by one hand so it's like I am really flying too?"  
  
  
"Sure thing, Dick"  
  
  
And that night eventually ended as a windblown Dick Grayson was back in his bed and he made a promise to himself, he swore that he would do everything he could to protect people from harm to be like his adoptive brother and a defender of justice. He did not then know how he would do it, but he would find a way and make his parents and Clark proud of him.   
  
  
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Now there he was, in Clark's town, ready to begin the life he had chosen those ten years ago. He had gone over his suit like twenty times just to make sure he had everything and it all worked. He was nervous but excited. He was ready. Then he felt a breeze that was out of place. A breeze he had come to know and love, for he knew what followed ...: Clark. 


End file.
